Muscle toning apparatus have heretofore been generally disclosed in such patents as the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Rohrer 1,014,774, Clarke 1,585,767 and Belleville 2,578,916, which operate on the principle of relieving tissue and muscle tension as passed back and forth along the body. While some of these tension relievers are particularly made to generally conform to parts of the body, they are mostly stiff and unwieldy and do not perform an efficient massaging operation.
The present invention improves upon the massaging devices of the foregoing references by providing a relatively flexible, freely movable relaxer or exerciser, which may conform to various parts of the body and perform a muscle toning or relaxing function without discomfort to the body.
An advantage of the present invention is that the relaxer is sufficiently flexible and freely movable to relax the body tissues and relieve tension by a slow toning motion along the desired parts of the body.
A further advantage of the invention is that the massaging device may readily relieve tension from various parts of the body by exerting a free rolling motion along the tense muscular portions of the body.
A still further advantage of the invention is that the apparatus and its operation is so simple and requires so little physical effort that it may be operated by a confined person, such as a semi-invalid.
A still further advantage of the invention is the provision of an exercising apparatus and device producing a vigorous kneading motion, stimulating the skin and underlying tissues without damage to the skin and, at the same time, producing a soft and relaxing massaging action to dispel tension or fatigue.
Still another advantage of the invention is to massage on the principle of kneading or massaging with beads or rollers and to arrange the kneading or massaging rollers and support therefor to make it easy to manipulate the rollers over the throat, neck and shoulder muscles and particularly at the base of the skull on the back of the neck.
A still further advantage of the invention is to provide a massaging device utilizing rotating beads to effect a massaging operation and to so size the beads as to avoid undesirable stretching of the skin and muscle tissue and to allow more pressure to be exerted where required over relatively long periods of time without discomfort.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.